You can’t get New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies fans to agree on much — but they’ve concluded that not only do they both hate the Atlanta Braves, but they also have a similar level of disdain for MLB on Fox’s No. 2 broadcasting team: Adam Amin, Adam Wainwright and A.J. Pierzynski.
Amin already confronted the “on-air bias” claims on X (formerly Twitter), poking fun at a “quadfecta of bias” in his mentions following Sunday’s Game 2 of the National League Division Series. And Monday was Pierzynski’s turn to weigh in, as the Foul Territory co-host chuckled at the fan backlash.
“We pissed off both sides…if both fan bases hate you, that means you’re doing your job”@ajpierzynski12 discusses being part of the broadcast team for @Phillies vs @Mets pic.twitter.com/tho9bgqFlS
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) October 7, 2024
“We pissed off both sides, so I think we did well,” Pierzynski says. “If both teams hate you, if both fanbases hate you, that means you’re doing your job. It makes me laugh because my biggest thing, like Game 1, nothing really happened. All we did was talk about (Zack) Wheeler throwing seven (shoutout innings) with two hits and however many punchouts he had (nine).
“And then the Mets had that big inning, and so, we have to talk about the Mets when they’re scoring all these runs. And everyone’s like, ‘Gosh, you guys just love the Mets; you won’t even talk about the Phillies.’ Yeah, well, guess what? When a team’s putting up a five-run inning…Guess what you got to talk about? The Mets’ hitting. You’re not gonna talk about, like, ‘Oh, the Phillies’ pitching is amazing.’ No, not when that happens…
“And then last night was just one of the best games I’ve ever seen. I mean, just back and forth, the crowd, the way the big momentum swings. (Bryce) Harper’s home run might’ve changed the Phillies’ postseason for the entirety run because that home run, the crowd was deflated, that one swing, man, it got them back into it.”
Whatever happens from here on out, the first-ever postseason matchup between the Phillies and Mets is already delivering on the hype — and then some. With two fanbases passionately devoted to their teams (and their local broadcasters), it’s no surprise that both sides are finding reasons to criticize the broadcast.
But none of the complaints should take away from this being one of the better MLB postseason series already in recent memory. Perhaps the criticism will subside if this thing continues to go the distance and plays out in five games.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.